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The Local Show: May 17, 2012
This week on The Local Show, we continue our performARTS series with a look inside The Charlotte Street Foundation. With the new season just around the corner, we talk to Denton Yockey, the head of Starlight Theatre, about what’s in store for theater and concert goers this summer under the stars. As part of our Difference Makers series, we profile Cristo Rey, a four-year Catholic college prep high school where students help pay for their education by working a job once a week. And we get a look at the new Black Archives of Mid-America which is set to reopen in the 18th & Vine Jazz District on June 16.
performARTS: Charlotte Street Foundation
This week, in conjunction with KC Studio Magazine, our performARTS Series takes a look at the Charlotte Street Foundation. Named after a house near UMKC where poets, painters and music makers would gather to eat, drink and talk shop, Charlotte Street celebrates turning 15 this year. Randy Mason has more about this unique operation, which through cash awards and other forms of assistance helps the region’s artists do more of what they do best.
Culture Alfresco: Denton Yockey & Starlight Theatre
A new season of live theater is about to get underway at Starlight Theatre. The Swope Park theater with its iconic towers has been entertaining Kansas Citians under the stars for more than 60 years.
Starlight is one of only three outdoor theatres of its size and type still operational in the United States. The Muny in St. Louis and Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia are the others. With the curtain about to rise on another season of top Broadway shows and big name concert performers, we caught up with Starlight’s man in charge, Denton Yockey.
Here is a look at the upcoming Broadway Shows:
In The Heights
June 5-10
Memphis
July 10-15
Peter Pan
July 24-29
Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida
August 3-12 at The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
La Cage Aux Folles
August 28-September 2
The 2012 Concert Season is also filling up with artists such as Barry Manilow, James Taylor, Crosby, Stills & Nash, My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses, Phish, B.B. King, Il Divo and many, many more.
Difference Maker: Cristo Rey
Can you imagine an inner-city high school in Kansas City where most of the kids are black and hispanic, almost all come from impoverished backgrounds and qualify for free or reduced lunch and yet nearly everyone graduates and goes on to college? Well, there is such a school. It’s called Cristo Rey, a four-year Catholic college prep high school where students help pay for their education by working a job once a week.
As part of KCPT’s Difference Maker series, producer Cara Meyers profiles Cristo Rey, which you’ll find one block east of Broadway on Linwood boulevard in the heart of the city.
By the way, working one day helps pay for about 60 percent of the students’ education. The rest is picked up through generous scholarships. Most families pay between 10 and 30 dollars a month for their child to attend the school.
Treasure Trove of History: Black Archives of Mid-America
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a ten-part series on PBS that explores the history of America though the lives, families, and DNA of some of its most celebrated citizens. As part of the national outreach for the series and in celebration of the grand opening of the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City, The Local Show presents a spoken word piece written and performed by Glenn North, poet in residence at the American Jazz Museum. We recorded Glenn at the NEW black archives which opens to the public next month.
The Black Archives of Mid-America re-opens in the 18th and Vine Jazz District on June 16th.
The Enchanted Island with Joyce DiDonato
This extraordinary new work combines the world’s best singers, the glorious music of the Baroque masters, and a story drawn from Shakespeare. In “The Enchanted Island,” the lovers from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are shipwrecked on the other-worldly island of The Tempest. Inspired by the musical pastiches and masques of the 18th century, the work showcases arias and ensembles by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau and others, and a new libretto by Jeremy Sams. Eminent conductor William Christie leads an all-star cast featuring David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato, Danielle de Niese, Luca Pisaroni, Lisette Oropesa and Anthony Roth Costanzo, with special guest star Plácido Domingo.
Watch Friday, May 18, 2012 at 9pm.
Watch Joyce DiDonato in The Enchanted Island on PBS. See more from Great Performances.
KC Week in Review
May 11, 2012
THIS WEEK: Friday, May 11th 2012 @ 7:30 pm
(Rebroadcast Sunday @ 11 am )
KC CORPORATE ICON TO BE SOLD TO CHINA?: After spending millions to lure AMC from downtown to Kansas is AMC about to be sold to China? A front page story in the Kansas City Star this week reveals that the nation’s second largest theater chain which has been headquartered in Kansas City since 1920 could soon be purchased by a Chinese conglomerate. What does all this mean for Kansas City?
UPDATE TRANSIT: We won’t know until summer what a Jackson County commuter rail plan might look like. And no one has proposed a ballot issue to fund a rail system, much less set a date for an election. Yet according to a front page story in the Star this week, Jackson County government officials are spending half a million dollars on TV ads and an awareness campaign to promote rail transit in the county. How does this square with KC’s plan for a streetcar line? Is there room for both? Are either of them feasible?
UMKC NAME CHANGE: UMKC is considering changing its name to the University of Kansas City. Officials say the name change would help it emerge from the sizable shadow of the Missouri campus in Columbia. The school has used its current name since it joined the four-campus University of Missouri system nearly 50 years ago.
ROMNEY IN KC: Mitt Romney was in town Thursday. The presumptive Republican nominee for President did not appear though in public – his visit was totally private. No public rallies and big speeches – why?
SHOT SPOTTER TECHNOLOGY COMES TO KC: It’s a high-tech anti-crime system that uses sensors to spot gunshots and let’s police know almost exactly where those bullets were fired. Kansas City officials have been talking about the system for years, but they’ve finally got the money to install the equipment. So how is this supposed to work and will it really reduce violent crime in Kansas City?
TOUGH PR CALL FOR GOLDEN OX: As Bottomline Communications reports this week, sometimes public relations decisions can be complicated. You make the call on this one. You are the PR person for the Golden Ox, one of Kansas City’s landmark restaurants and a downtown fixture since 1949. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, says it wants to come in and substitute your world-famous steaks for theirs and film customers’ reactions. On the one hand, your restaurant will be featured in ads across the country. It will certainly increase your restaurant’s exposure. On the other hand, you know that only those customers who rave about the Walmart steaks will be included in the commercials. What would you do? WATCH THE AD
LONG LINES AT DMV: Why should it take 8 hours to wait in line this week to renew your license plates or register your vehicles in Johnson County?
THIS WEEK’S NEWS REVIEWERS:
Kevin Collison
Kansas City Star
Chris Hernandez
41 Action News
Stacey Cameron
KCTV5
Dave Helling
Kansas City Star
***A NOTE FROM NICK:
Your thoughts are always important to me. Send an e-mail to nhaines@kcpt.org or share and connect at the Nick Haines page on Facebook.
Thanks for watching Kansas City Week in Review.
Nick!
Fiscal Year End Gift
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The Local Show: May 10, 2012
This week, Kansas City Royals legend Frank White stops by The Local Show to talk about his new role with the T-Bones teaching young players and looks back at how he got his start in baseball. We find out more about the Johnson County Mental Health Co-Responder Project. Randy Mason talks to PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger and KCPT CEO Kliff Kuehl about the challenges and rewards of public broadcasting. And we learn more about the SEA LIFE Aquarium’s conservation efforts.
Nothing Gold Can Stay: Frank White
He won eight Golden Gloves and played in five All-Star Games. Frank White played 18 seasons in the major leagues and all of them with the Kansas City Royals. Following his playing career he became a coach and a popular Royals broadcaster. That is until recently when his longtime club unceremoniously dismissed him from his contract.
Now, White is no longer spending his days at the K but across town at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, home to the Kansas City T-Bones, the metros’ minor league ballclub, where he recently took on the job of first-base coach.
Their new season gets underway next week. White joined Randy to talk about his life and career in baseball.
